TotalEnergies bags 3GW offshore wind plans in New York & New Jersey

TotalEnergies, a French oil and gas major, has won maritime lease area OCS-A 0538 by the BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) in the New York Bight auction held at the end of last week.

This bid for the development of an offshore wind farm off the U.S. East Coast was won for a consideration of US$ 795 million (100%) by both TotalEnergies and EnBW, an official statement said.

Located up to 47 nautical miles (87 kilometers) from the coast, the lease covers a 132 square miles (341 square kilometer) area that could accommodate a generation capacity of at least 3 GW, likely enough to provide power to about one million homes. The project is expected to come online by 2028.

In addition, EnBW informed TotalEnergies of its decision to refocus its activity on Europe. Consequently, TotalEnergies has agreed to acquire EnBW’s interest in this New York Bight concession and welcome EnBW’s North America team within its own staff. In addition, TotalEnergies will acquire from EnBW the predevelopment work undertaken for the upcoming auction off the coast of Central California (Castle Wind project).

“This grand entrance into offshore wind in the U.S. is a major step toward our goal of reaching 100 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity worldwide by 2030. This development adds another dimension to our renewable business in the U.S., currently representing 4 GW of solar farms under development,” said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.

This is the largest renewable energy project TotalEnergies has ever undertaken and we now have a portfolio of over 10 GW of offshore wind projects, a technology in which we aim to be a world leader by leveraging our offshore expertise,” he said.

The New York Bight project is part of the U.S. government’s goal to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind in the U.S. by 2030, in response to the global climate challenge. Locally, it seeks to provide a concrete answer to the growing demand for clean energy in New York and New Jersey.

Last year, TotalEnergies launched a joint venture with Simply Blue Group to unlock the potential for floating offshore wind projects in the US.